betrothed ( ✓ )

chapter three

After dinner, which consisted of a pleasant barbecue, Harry decided to venture the surrounding neighborhood. Consequentially, Draco also wanted to explore, and therefore Neville followed along with them. Harry suspected that James had told Neville to go with them, if only to prevent an inevitable fight.

The adventure didn't last real long, however, seeing as the three teenagers were all exhausted from a day's travel across the Atlantic. They made it around the block once before turning around and heading back home. On the walk back, they discovered a white fence much like the one surrounding their backyard, and once Draco stood on his tiptoes, he saw that behind the gate, a cute garden with tropical fish ponds rested, and further back than that, a swimming pool.

"We could go there after a day at the beach! Wash off the sand without having to trek it through Uncle Sirius' house!" Neville exclaimed cheerfully, to which Harry nodded his head.

The sky had reached a twilight color, and he was glad that they only had two more houses to pass before being safely back on their property. He didn't know this place well enough to be venturing around after dark just yet, spite the supposedly friendly residents.

Once inside, the three boys kicked off their shoes on the mat and sat down in the living room with their parents. Severus and Lucius took one love-seat, and Frank and James took the other. Draco sat on one side of the couch then, closer to his parents, and Harry took the other, leaving Neville to sit in the middle. Both sets of parents looked at each other cautiously.

"Seriously, you cannot be expecting us only being here a short few hours and suddenly I'll be begging Potter to marry me. It's gonna take longer than that." Draco snapped, and the Potters flinched.

"Draco, please. Do be respectful, as we are guests in the Potter family's home." Lucius warned, but his son only shook his head.

"I have no respect for anything of this nature." Draco spat, and then stood angrily, storming past Harry and towards the blue room. The adults looked to Harry, seeing if he would follow. He remained seated, and stared into space.

This is going to be a long vacation, he thought, and sat back in his seat. After watching the nightly news, the adults all said goodnight to each other, claiming their day's travels to be exhausting and excused themselves to their respective bedrooms. Harry and Neville remained awkwardly on the couch.

"You do know Dad's mad at you, right?" Neville asked after a moment, lips cast downward as he glanced at his brother. His brown eyes looked heavy, and Harry felt bad for leaving him in the middle of the crossfire.

"He'll get over it." Harry explained, crossing his ankles and biting his lip.

"And what if he doesn't?"

"Then I guess a wedding's never gonna take place then." Harry claimed, and Neville's frown fell even further as he stood up.

"I'm going to bed." He mumbled, and then shuffled quickly down the hallway towards the blue room. This left Harry, who sat awkwardly, staring at the black tv screen.

He hated this. He hated having the knowledge that the whole point of this bloody vacation was to just make he and Draco want to marry each other. Nobody deserved to have to go through that much just for no effect to blossom from it. No effect would blossom from it. Harry did not love Draco, and Draco did not love Harry.

They were practically strangers who'd once had a past together, but now only had awkwardness, and the mutual feelings of pressure and being trapped. He hated it.

~~~

The following morning, Harry awoke to the sun hitting his face directly through the blinds. He sat up groggily, brushing the sleep from his eyes and stretched. The couch really was a tight fit for him, but after everything he'd put his family through, he refused to make Neville take the couch, even though he was shorter.